The Yarra Valley has been inundated with road issues over 2022, from potholes to flooded roads to drainage issues.
Star Mail has had the opportunity to speak with local petitioners, local MPs and those who’ve lost a tyre to damaged roads.
Here’s a snapshot of the best road stories we’ve covered in the past year.
Potholes a’plenty
Upper Yarra residents took to social media to complain about the state of the Warburton Highway throughout 2022, with potholes causing costly damage.
Two particular potholes in Woori Yallock were key culprits, with one outside the Tyrepower store and another on the corner of Middleton Drive seeing many motorists head into Tyrepower itself.
Owner of Tyrepower in Woori Yallock Marc Bull said the poor drainage is causing the pothole outside his shop.
“It’s too level outside and water doesn’t run away, it just sits there and sinks under the road base and turns it to slop. Then obviously the potholes just get created because the road basins are pretty much washed away,” he said.
“It’s good again until it rains, and then it’s opened up again, we’re lucky to last a day. In this area, you’ll find that most of the potholes that do arise are all in areas that have poor drainage or where the water has trouble getting away.”
“It’s a bit of a nightmare, searching around for second-hand rims is tricky because you can’t get just one. I appreciate the business, but it’s not the way I want to be getting it.”
Maroondah Highway concern continues
The intersection of Crowley, Lalors and Ayres Road in Healesville with the Maroondah Highway is still a concern for residents.
Eildon MP Cindy McLeish threw her support behind the safety of pedestrians, tabling the concern in Parliament on Tuesday 9 August.
Brian Millane lives on the Maroondah Highway and said he was frustrated not seeing any change.
“Seeing them change the east end of Healesville to a 40 zone, even with a number of opportunities to cross at the three pedestrian crossings, and nothing here where the traffic is thickest, is quite frustrating,” he said.
“There’s horns blowing and people screeching along the highway here daily. We walk a lot as well, and the actual levels of the road, which aren’t noticeable when you’re driving, are tripping hazards where there is anywhere between 20 to 40ml difference in height where the surface has been laid and hasn’t been levelled correctly.”
Mr Millane, along with Mike Grigg and Barry Alloway contacted VicRoads in 2016 appealing for the 50km/h speed limit to be extended from the town centre. Their application was rejected with VicRoads citing the low crash rates and the absence of schools or school crossings as the reason no change was needed.
Seville East crash reignites pleas
A serious crash on the Warburton Highway at Douthie Road in Seville East reignited the concerns of locals who have been seeking safety measures for years.
Police believe a truck may have been driving erratically before it collided with a Nissan Patrol on Tuesday 29 November at around 1pm, with the Warburton Highway not reopened until about 6.30pm following the incident.
Seville East resident Joel Supple is the admin of the Seville East Traffic Safety group on Facebook and said the group keep working on the issue until they get what they think is the safest outcome for themselves and their kids.
“We are not going anywhere. We started about five years ago after a number of accidents and the death of one driver, and have made numerous attempts to get VicRoads to address the issue, everything from having plans drawn up, to getting the support of our local MP Bridget Vallence and lobbying to transport ministers,” he said.
Back in 2019 VicRoads conducted an extensive investigation into the stretch of the highway from Peters Road to Douthie Road, before it was expanded to include the section from Douthie Road to Old Warburton Highway with a particular focus on the Sunnyside Road intersection.
Mr Supple said he feels like politics is being played with people’s lives.
“People aren’t paying attention, but that’s why we need turning lanes, why we need safety barriers, you need safety as much as you can. We feel like we are not being considered important, that our lives aren’t valued,” he said.
VicRoads data collected between 2014 and 2019 has 17 separate accidents noted on the stretch of the Warburton Highway between the Douthie Road and Old Warburton Highway intersections.
‘Gobsmacked’ by Roads for Community funding cut
Yarra Ranges Council was left gobsmacked by the federal government’s decision to scrap the $300m road sealing project in the 2022-23 budget which includes Council’s Roads for Community Initiative and Sealing the Hills Road Project in Cardinia Shire.
The Yarra Ranges project received bi-partisan support in the 2019 election which was estimated to offer sealing to approximately 187 km’s of road over a nine-year period.
Mayor Jim Child said Council received funding of $98,577,380 in 2021 to help deliver the first six years of the Roads for the Community program
“The program has currently sealed 11km’s of roads and there is another 12km’s in construction or recently awarded to contractors for construction. A further 48km’s of projects are in the design stage, with the community having already been consulted,” he said.
“Council has been able to deliver a large number of critical road sealing projects in our municipality through this program since it was introduced in 2019 and we had hope that this program will continue to enable us to deliver more important road infrastructure projects for the community.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts said some existing infrastructure projects had been reviewed, and in some cases, reduced or discontinued in the October budget. They said current economic conditions were affecting the delivery of infrastructure investments and increasing the pressure on the Commonwealth budget.
